Chastity

A chicken in running shoes, a familiar image to Baltimore youths, debuted yesterday in Little Rock, Ark., on 30 billboards, 5,000 school posters and television public service announcements.The chicken -- featured in an advertisment whose tag line warns of "a guy who makes a baby and flies the coop" -- is part of a multimillion-dollar campaign designed by a Baltimore ad agency to encourage sexual abstinence among Maryland's youngest adolescents.Over the past five years, the chicken and other slick ads promoting chastity have commanded attention locally.

Chastity Brione Dunnaville, a Navy lieutenant junior grade and Naval Academy graduate who had played on its women's rugby team, died of rhabdomyosarcoma Sunday at University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 24 and had lived in Lauraville. Born in Baltimore and raised on Catalpha Road, she attended Garrett Heights Elementary School. While in fifth grade, her parents took her to private schools for visits as a prospective student. One day, she stopped at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson.

Molly Kelly has nothing against sex, she will tell you. After all, she has eight children.But the sexual abstinence guru told Arundel High School students that safe-sex lectures often fail to discuss the one birth control method that that is free and foolproof: chastity."

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. Use it in a sentence in a comment on his blog, You Don't say, and the best sentence will be featured next week. This week's word: demirep A woman who is no better than she should be, a woman of poor reputation, suspected of sexual promiscuity, has in the past been called a demirep.

WASHINGTON -- An out-of-court deal, made on the last night of the Bush administration, may make it impossible for churches to teach their faith when they use federal funds to pay for sex education to teen-agers.After a nearly decade-long court battle that once went to the Supreme Court, a constitutional challenge to churches that use so-called "Chastity Act" money was settled late Tuesday night -- two days before the trial was to start today.The dispute was between religious figures opposed to government endorsement of religion and the federal government and church-run projects.

By Nancy Gallant and Nancy Gallant,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | November 6, 2001

WEDNESDAY WAS the perfect night for trick-or-treating. The moon was full and bright. The sky was clear, dark and scattered with stars. The air was warm enough for little princesses and pirates to shuffle through the leaves in their costumes, unencumbered by heavy winter jackets. But most of my Halloween candy still sits in a bowl by the front door. Usually, we welcome 60 or 70 trick-or-treaters. This year, we saw fewer than 30. Standing on the sidewalk with some neighbors that evening, I thought the silence was almost eerie.

With her funky hoop earrings and carefully styled hair, Elizabeth Moss looks just like all the other girls sharing heart-to-heart talks about their boyfriends in the school cafeteria.She's more likely, however, to be thinking about her grades and her future. On dates, she shrugs off boys who try to seduce her into having casual sex. She's 15 and willing to wait."I don't feel pressured. Now it's just a choice," says the bright, outgoing junior at Baltimore's City College, who is active with a group that promotes sexual abstinence in the middle schools.

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. Use it in a sentence in a comment on his blog, You Don't say, and the best sentence will be featured next week. This week's word: demirep A woman who is no better than she should be, a woman of poor reputation, suspected of sexual promiscuity, has in the past been called a demirep.

In many cities, news that a five-year contraceptive implant would be available in school-based health clinics would cause a firestorm of criticism. In Baltimore, The Sun's report that the city health commissioner has formed a consortium of doctors, hospitals and private foundations to make Norplant available to sexually active teen-agers was met with relatively minor mutterings.Meanwhile, the story drew national attention, including a front-page story in the New York Times and a full-page report in Newsweek.

Banks value customers who pay bills on timeI can only imagine that Sun reporter Robert A. Erlandson was taking exceptional poetic license when he wrote (Perspective section, April 24) that people who pay their bills on time are considered deadbeats.His provocative statement is one of those ill-conceived urban myths, like alligators in New York sewers, that is so out of line it gets repeated by people who don't take time to investigate the facts.Many, many valued bank card customers choose to pay their balances in full every month, thus receiving free use of bank funds.

Marquis Page has been tempted, plenty of times. "I could have a baby, the situations I've been in," he says. But so far, the witty, outgoing 19-year-old has stayed chaste. He traces his discipline to the weekly abstinence classes he attends at New Creation Christian Church in Northeast Baltimore. Led by the program's charismatic director, Anthony Allen, a group of 20 to 35 teen-agers meets every Wednesday night in the church basement. Sitting in a large circle, they talk openly about the physical and emotional risks of premarital sex, the pull of peer pressure and the reality of hormone-fueled adolescent urges.

By Nancy Gallant and Nancy Gallant,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | November 6, 2001

WEDNESDAY WAS the perfect night for trick-or-treating. The moon was full and bright. The sky was clear, dark and scattered with stars. The air was warm enough for little princesses and pirates to shuffle through the leaves in their costumes, unencumbered by heavy winter jackets. But most of my Halloween candy still sits in a bowl by the front door. Usually, we welcome 60 or 70 trick-or-treaters. This year, we saw fewer than 30. Standing on the sidewalk with some neighbors that evening, I thought the silence was almost eerie.

Banks value customers who pay bills on timeI can only imagine that Sun reporter Robert A. Erlandson was taking exceptional poetic license when he wrote (Perspective section, April 24) that people who pay their bills on time are considered deadbeats.His provocative statement is one of those ill-conceived urban myths, like alligators in New York sewers, that is so out of line it gets repeated by people who don't take time to investigate the facts.Many, many valued bank card customers choose to pay their balances in full every month, thus receiving free use of bank funds.

With her funky hoop earrings and carefully styled hair, Elizabeth Moss looks just like all the other girls sharing heart-to-heart talks about their boyfriends in the school cafeteria.She's more likely, however, to be thinking about her grades and her future. On dates, she shrugs off boys who try to seduce her into having casual sex. She's 15 and willing to wait."I don't feel pressured. Now it's just a choice," says the bright, outgoing junior at Baltimore's City College, who is active with a group that promotes sexual abstinence in the middle schools.

WASHINGTON -- An out-of-court deal, made on the last night of the Bush administration, may make it impossible for churches to teach their faith when they use federal funds to pay for sex education to teen-agers.After a nearly decade-long court battle that once went to the Supreme Court, a constitutional challenge to churches that use so-called "Chastity Act" money was settled late Tuesday night -- two days before the trial was to start today.The dispute was between religious figures opposed to government endorsement of religion and the federal government and church-run projects.

Opponents of a controversial sex education play shown in Harford County high schools will try to devise strategies today to convince school officials to consider alternatives that emphasize abstinence."

Guiding LightEditor: It was nice to see some recognition in your Nov. 18 Gallimaufry for Nolan Rogers, the extraordinary tour guide at the new stadium.Nolan has been gracious enough to allow me to tag along (and bring friends and family as well) on over half a dozen of the hundreds of tours he has given.I've never been bored. His wit, enthusiasm and knowledge of the history of the Camden Yards area were as evident at the end of the last tour as they were at the beginning of the first.I hope the Maryland Stadium Authority knows what a gem it has in this man.Jamie Hunt.

Chastity Brione Dunnaville, a Navy lieutenant junior grade and Naval Academy graduate who had played on its women's rugby team, died of rhabdomyosarcoma Sunday at University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 24 and had lived in Lauraville. Born in Baltimore and raised on Catalpha Road, she attended Garrett Heights Elementary School. While in fifth grade, her parents took her to private schools for visits as a prospective student. One day, she stopped at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson.

In many cities, news that a five-year contraceptive implant would be available in school-based health clinics would cause a firestorm of criticism. In Baltimore, The Sun's report that the city health commissioner has formed a consortium of doctors, hospitals and private foundations to make Norplant available to sexually active teen-agers was met with relatively minor mutterings.Meanwhile, the story drew national attention, including a front-page story in the New York Times and a full-page report in Newsweek.

A chicken in running shoes, a familiar image to Baltimore youths, debuted yesterday in Little Rock, Ark., on 30 billboards, 5,000 school posters and television public service announcements.The chicken -- featured in an advertisment whose tag line warns of "a guy who makes a baby and flies the coop" -- is part of a multimillion-dollar campaign designed by a Baltimore ad agency to encourage sexual abstinence among Maryland's youngest adolescents.Over the past five years, the chicken and other slick ads promoting chastity have commanded attention locally.